The 1994 Criminal Justice Act made it much harder to set up camp around the country. It became increasingly difficult for the travellers to live according to their traditions. ibid.
But there was a problem on Dale Farm. The site the travellers bought was green belt. And they did not have permission to develop it. ibid.
Although the site was technically green belt it had been previously used as a scrap yard fuelling a belief in the travellers that there were ulterior motives behind the eviction. ibid.
4 miles from Dale Farm July 2010: a short distance from Dale Farm with a year to go before the main eviction, a smaller traveller site is having its day of reckoning. ibid.
Irish travellers are no strangers to site evictions. ibid.
‘They didn’t care about the village. Took a different attitude to the English.’ ibid. Dale Farm neighbour
A long cycle of enforcement notices and appeals began raising hopes for the travellers. ibid.
For some local residents the evictions can’t come soon enough. ibid.
With hundreds of travellers and a legion of activists barricaded on site, the Council bolsters its force. ibid.
An injunction has delayed the site clearance for at least five days. ibid.
‘… and some just a few yards down the road right outside the entrance to Dale Farm.’ ibid. news report
For hundreds of years Gypsies and travellers have called the British Isles their home. Battling to keep their unique way of life. And it’s not been an easy ride. For centuries they’ve locked horns with the outside world. But why? Gypsies and travellers live by an ancient code following traditions that some view with suspicion. Here Come the Gypsies s1e1, Channel 5 2021
Since Gypsies arrived in the UK 400 years ago horses have been a key part of their nomadic culture, helping them stay on the move when in the Middle Ages being a gypsy was punishable by death. Tighter regulations on Gypsy camps and stopping points have reduced the numbers who ride on horseback today. Here Come the Gypsies s1e2
At a farm in Hampshire, Gypsy horsemen are preparing for one of their liveliest events of the year. The Cooper New Forest horse drive has been running for over 20 years, and hundreds are gathering to camp out for the night. Here Come the Gypsies s1e3
John rents a plot on a council-run gypsy site with his wife Connie. While John works, Connie looks after their baby daughter Maya. Here Come the Gypsies s1e4
So Beb’s taking to the fields with his lurcher Romeo to catch any rabbits that stray into their limelight. Here Come the Gypsies s1e5
‘Some people might think it cruel [holds aloft dead rabbit]. But we live off the land.’ Here Come the Gypsies s1e6
The Gypsy tradition of burning the possessions of loved ones goes back through the ages, and is meant as a sign of respect to the deceased. It’s also thought by some to ensure that the living don’t catch contamination from evil spirits known as marime. ibid.
Gypsy geezer: Automatically they think ah Gypsies: stealing, pinching, poaching you know straight away.
Gypsy woman: And there is some that does do it, don’t get me wrong, but not every Gypsy does it. ibid.
‘It’s getting a lot more rougher: and there’s getting a lot more shootings, stabbings. It never used to be like that.’ ibid. dude on car
This is how 300 people spent one Sunday in October: 200 were policemen, 50 professional strong-arm men at £15 a day each, and 50 were persons who call themselves travellers, a mixture of gypsies and Irish tinkers. The gypsies are on ground that belongs to the council … They have to live an outlaws’ life. World in Action: An Outlaw’s Life, ITV 1968
Only when they are actually moving are they not breaking the law. ibid.
While we push black people into ghettoes, the gypsies are pushed out altogether. ibid.
Dorset police block a main road to stop new-age travellers out of a seaside resort. It’s just one of hundreds of confrontations that’s take place this summer as a growing band of nomads takes to Britain’s roads. World in Action: New Age Travellers, ITV 1992
New-age travellers claim they are peaceful free-spirits wrongly condemned by a hostile society. ibid.
They are joined by thousands of ravers out from the towns for a weekend of non-stop dancing to loud electronic music. ibid.
The police are using controversial tactics first employed during the miners’ strike. ibid.
I’m from a family of travellers. We’re Romany people – those travellers descended from the Gypsies who first arrived in Britain five hundred years ago. A Very British History s1e1: Romany Gypsies, BBC 2018
The 1960s were a difficult decade for us. For much of it we were like outlaws in our own land. ibid.
Romany Gypsies arrived in Britain five centuries ago after migrating across Europe from northern India. ibid.
And always there was an obsession with horses. ibid.
But elsewhere in the home counties strings of trailers continued to pull up on main roads. ibid.